


Not What It Looks Like

by mggislife2789



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Bullying, Cyberbullying, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-25
Updated: 2016-10-25
Packaged: 2018-08-27 00:57:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8381665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mggislife2789/pseuds/mggislife2789
Summary: After Spencer receives a horrible text message, seemingly from the reader, he is hurt, but decides to ask her about it.





	

**You think you’re so fucking smart, don’t you? You’re actually nothing but a fucking loser. You are pathetic excuse for a human being, it’s amazing you have any friends at all. Fuck you.**

Spencer looked at his phone screen in horror, wondering why she would say such horrible things to him. Granted, she only started working for the BAU as a liaison a few months ago and they really hadn’t had the chance to get to know each other yet, but what could have possibly made her say such hurtful things. 

The message had come in before he got to work - around 6:30 AM. While he got showered and dressed, her words floated around in his head. He checked the message over and over again, hoping it wasn’t from the number he’d thought, but every time he glanced at it again, there was her phone number - clear as day.  
As he walked into the BAU, he clutched his bag close to his chest, feeling like that frightened awkward child he thought he’d left behind after his days as a child prodigy. He sat at his desk and pulled out the phone again, wondering if this was the start of another bullying stint, except this time as a grown man.

At that moment, the elevator bell rang, alerting him to the fact that the rest of the team would probably be on their way. Y/N was the first one off, smiling and laughing with Penelope right behind her. How could she be so nonchalant after sending such a horrible tirade his way? He was dumbfounded and had to turn away to compose himself. Last thing he wanted to do was snap at her in front of the rest of the team; it was embarrassing enough that he was still being made fun of after all these years without letting everyone else know about it.

He had to try his best to just ignore it - hope that it was a one-time deal, because he had no desire to let the rest of his friends know that he was being bullied at more than 30 years old.

\-----------------------

“Spencer, are you okay?” Penelope asked, after her friend had visibly sneered when Y/N passed her office, where she and he were going over some details of the latest case.

“What?” he asked, not realizing what she’d said. He was too busy keeping Y/N’s words from floating around his head.

She repeated herself, “Are you okay? The entire day you’ve been really on edge. If I can see it, then you can be sure that the rest of the team can see it. You’ve been looking at Y/N like she’s the devil for hours.”

“It’s nothing, Garcia,” he sighed, “don’t worry about it.”

“Well, I’m worrying. It looks like one of my best friends is in pain and it has to do with one of my other best friends, so what is it?” she asked.

“I-It’s just...” he started, wondering whether or not he should tell anyone, least of all Garcia. She always meant well, but she had a tendency to bring other people into an issue in order to help, rather than keeping it to herself. She motioned at him to continue, so he started again, “I got this message this morning. A text. A really horrible text message. And it was from Y/N.” He took out his phone and pulled up the message, handing it over to Garcia.

“Oh my god!” she said, her mouth dropping open in horror.

“I know.”

She did a double take between Spencer and the message before replying, “There is no way Y/N sent this, Boy Genius. We’ve spent nearly every day together since she started and although I may not be a profiler, I would stake my life on the fact that this isn’t from her.”

“But it’s her number,” he said indignantly.

“Really?” she asked surprised. When he still looked confused, she spoke once more, “Just because it says her number doesn’t mean it’s actually hers. Someone probably spoofed her phone. It doesn’t take an absolute tech genius like myself to do it - just someone with a slightly above average knowledge of technology. A teenager could have done this.”

“Why would a kid do this?” he asked, looking at the message again. “Just because?”

“Yea,” she replied, “because they had the ability and wanted to be a horrible person. I’d talk to Y/N about it first. This can’t be what it looks like. Show her the message and ask her what’s up. If you are the profiler I think you are,” she beamed, “then you’ll be able to gauge her reaction when she looks at the message.”

He hadn’t really thought to do that. Because of his past with bullying, he just assumed that people were making fun of him again, he never really thought that someone would send that kind of message just for the sake of it. “I guess you’re right,” he said. “I’ll talk to her.”

She crossed her hands over her chest and smiled. “Of course I’m right,” she declared. “You’re not the only genius around here.”  
\-----------------------

“Hey, Spencer,” Y/N greeted, turning around when she heard him enter the empty file room.

He took a deep breath. “C-Can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “What is it?”

“W-Well, I got this message,” he began, as he pulled his phone out of his pocket, “it was a really horrible text message, and the number says it’s from you.”

“Seriously?” she asked dumbfounded. Five seconds after Spencer handed her the phone, she gasped. “Oh my god! This does say it’s from my number!” She looked up at him and back at the screen. “You think I sent this to you?”

“Your number is there, what else was I supposed to think?” he asked.

“Maybe someone spoofed you, I don’t know. But I can promise you, I would never send this kind of thing to anyone, especially you,” she admitted, before realizing what she’d said.

“Huh?”

“So intelligent, but so oblivious,” she laughed - continuing on when Spencer’s face was still scrunched up in confusion. “Spencer, I’ve had the hots for you since the moment I saw you when I walked in three months ago.”

His mouth dropped open and his eyes became nearly vacant at the confession. Having found himself staring at the wall for a few moments, he knocked himself out of it. “You think I’m hot?”

“Yea,” Y/N admitted, the corners of her mouth turning upward, “and sweet, and kind, and funny, and intelligent, and...”

He guessed Penelope was right.

Not everything is as it seems.


End file.
